Article

08th March 2017by Maintel UK

Customer update: Avaya Enters into Asset Purchase Agreement with Extreme Networks for the Sale of Avaya’s Networking Business

You may have read in the news overnight that Avaya hasannounced theproposed sale of their data networking business to Extreme Networks, as part of their current process to restructure their balance sheet and reduce their debt. Although it is still to go through final approvals in the US legal system and is still technically susceptible to a larger bid being received by anotherorganisation, we believe the transaction is highly likely to succeed.

As one of Avaya’s largest partners in EMEA for the data networking portfolio, Maintel has been liaising with Avaya on the future of the networking business. We are also a partner with Extreme and believe that the coming together of the two networking portfolios will be a positive move for the customers of both Extreme and Avaya. While there is some overlap inportfolio, there is also a wide degree of complementarity. This acquisition will provide a secure roadmap for existing Avaya customers, and a broader portfolio for the Extreme customer base, including access to Avaya's industry-leading Fabric networking solutions. Avaya networking customers will also be sure to benefit from Extreme's proven ability to be early to the market with the latest advances in bandwidth technology.We also understand that Avaya will have a strong relationship with Extreme post-transaction to support the current integrations that exist between the data and the unified communications and contactcentreportfolios.

As Avaya’s International Networking Partner of the Year, we will, of course, be working closely with both Avaya and Extreme on the exact details of the sale and integration when it goes ahead. We will also, of course, be able to continue to provide those customers who have the full stack of Avaya products - from the data networking through to unified communications and contactcentre, with end-to-end support across that broader portfolio.

For now, Avaya assures us it is continuing to conduct business as usual until the process is complete. We continue to receive strong support from Avaya and have access to the entire networking portfolio. Avaya has also produced thisFAQdocument covering the proposed sale.

If you have any questions at this time, please contact your account manager. We will also bring you further details when they become available.